Nail



Jan. 23, 1934. B, Q BRUGGE 1,944,150

NAIL

Filed June 30, 1932 ATTORNEY} Patented Jan. 23, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NAIL Benjamin C. Brugge, Alabama City, Ala., assignor to Gulf States Steel Company, a corporation of Delaware My invention relates to nails having heads, and of the class ordinarily used in building operations, and has for its object the provision of a nail of this character with reenforcing ribs of appre- 6 ciable thickness on the surface of the head whereby to strengthen the head and to permit the head to be countersunk in driving to a depth equalling the thickness of the reenforcing ribs, without marring the wood into which it is driven,

and thereby providing a means on the nail head for retaining paint or other protective coating.

My invention further contemplates a nail having a head and a protective coating over the entire surface of the nail, including the head, and

a pair of crossed reenforcing ribs on the upper surface of the head, whereby the coating on the nail head, when driven, is not disturbed by the hammer and the coating thereby serves its intended purpose of protecting the nail head against corrosion.

As is well known, coated nails have heretofore been provided for the trade, such nails being given a protective coating of cement or a mixture of cement and rosin, or of rosin, shellac or other suitable material without cement. Nails having such a protective coating are generally referred to as cement coated nails. Nailsof this character have approximately twice the holding power of uncoated nails, besides resisting corrosion to a 3 greater extent.

Up to the present time, however, coated nails have rarely been used in house building, being confined mostly to use in making boxes and crates. In house building where nails were to be driven into a surface which was to be covered with paint, it has been the custom to use finishing nails, or nails having little or no head, countersinking the nails into the wood with a nail set, filling the countersunk hole with putty, and then painting over the filled hole.

It is accordingly one of the particular objects of my invention to provide a nail for finishing purposes with a head, thus adding to its holding power, and providing crossed ribs of appreciable height on the head of the nail so that it may be countersunk into the wood without the use of a nail set, and the ribs on the head of the nail serve to hold the paint so that it is not necessary to use putty to cover the nail head. The use of a protective coating on the entire nail adds to its holding power, and thehammer in driving the nail striking only the ribs does not disturb this coating over the major portion of the area of the nail head.

The ribs which I provide on my improved nail out departing from the spirit thereof, and I the head as well as the advantages heretofore pointed out.

A nail embodying features of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing forming a part of this application, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of the nail head;

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the nail;

Figure 3 is an elevational view drawn to a larger scale with the protective coating broken away, and showing in section the nail driven into wood and countersunk to a depth equivalent to the thickness of the ribs; and

Figure 4 is a view showing a modified form of my invention.

Referring to the drawing, I show a nail having the customary shank 10 and head 11. The head 11 is provided with crossed, diametrally disposed ribs 12 and 13 which, as may be seen in Figures 2 and 3 of the drawing, are of a height approximately equal to the thickness of the nail head. The nail is preferably given a protective coating indicated by the numeral 14 which may be any of the coatings ordinarily used for the purposes indicated.

In driving the nail into wood, such as 16 in Figure 3, the hammer strikes the ribs 12 and 13 so as to countersink the nail head as shown. When paint is spread over the surface of the wood, the ribs on the nail head, and the coating on the nail head serves to hold the paint in place so that it is not necessary to employ putty to cover 95 up the nail head, as is the custom-with ordinary nails.

In Figure 4 I show a modified form of my invention in which, in addition to the ribs 12 and 13 on the upper surface of the nail head, I provide additional radial reenforcing ribs 16 and 17 on the under side of the nail head. The provision of the ribs 16 and 17 greatly adds to the strength of the nail head, and such a construction may be preferable for some types of work.

While I have shown my invention in but two forms, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various other changes and modifications, withto protect throughout the relatively thinner coated head of the nail from hammer blows that might strip or deface the exposed protective coating on the unribbed portion of the nail head.

2. A nail according to claim 1, in which the ribs comprise tour equidistant radial ribs extending from the center to the periphery of the head and which are of substantial width and convex in transverse cross section.

BENJAMIN C. BRUGGE.

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